Brevard County Manatees Moving To Osceola County Next Year, Spent Over 20 Years On the Space Coast

Opened Play In Brevard In 1994

The Brevard County Manatees will be leaving Brevard after this season and moving to Osceola County. The Manatees have been in Brevard since 1994. (Zach Clark, SpaceCoastDaily Image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA (AroundOsceola.com) – Kissimmee spent 31 years as a major league spring training site.

For 15 of them, Osceola County Stadium also hosted the Houston Astros’ Class A minor-league affiliate.
While the Astros seem to have packed up their equipment truck and left town, a new minor-league team takes their place beginning in April 2017.

The ownership and team president of what’s currently called the Brevard County Manatees officially announced a deal to bring the Milwaukee Brewers’ Class A team to Kissimmee on Wednesday at the ballpark, bringing the county back in the professional baseball business.

The team, owned by Dr. Tom Winters and former professional football kicker Charlie Baumann of Winter Park, has worked out a 25-year lease with the county to play at Osceola County Stadium, with many options built in, the first after three seasons.

“We plan to put on such a good product, that first option should be a no-brainer,” said Manatees’ team president Joe Harrington, who is already working full-time here in town.